livelihoods july 21712-laxman · livelihoods july 2012 livelihoods today and tomorrow july 2012...
TRANSCRIPT
July 2012 livelihoods
livelihoods today and tomorrow
July 2012
Local Enterprises and Decent Jobs!- 9 Jute Industry - 18 Transport Network for India - 26
Partnerships
July 2012 2 livelihoods
Floods in Assam and Drought everywhere! Power Cuts everywhere! Molestation of teenage girl in Assam shocks us,
many of the ‘wolves’ are still at bay.
Pranab is the President-elect!
Dara Singh, Rajesh Khanna, Stephen Covey and Mrinal Gore: Rest in Peace!
Let us remember Mandela – good head and good heart are a formidable combination.
Let us protect the tiger’s ecosystems. Let us celebrate friendship, company, partnership and being and living
together. Let us care the world the way the indigenous people care and give them their fair share.
Let the young men and women to take charge of this world and care for the old and the new young. Let the
humanism and humanitarianism prosper in the world. Let there be renewable energy generation and use
everywhere. Let the simple living be the new fashion.
Co-existence is a way of life for human beings. Partnership for mutual benefit is her/his way of life. State coordinates
equity in resources and their use. State builds public infrastructure. State also provides funds for the disadvantaged.
Private entrepreneurs and enterprises offer goods and services at a price to meet the needs of the people. People’s
groups and organizations (community) pool up the needs, services, inputs and other goods people want to buy, and
the resources, produce, goods and services people want to sell directly or after some value-addition. Sometimes,
state uses the contractors to get the work it wants to do. Some other times, it would like the private entities to
partner with the state so that the infrastructure comes in through build, own and operate basis or build, own, operate
and transfer basis. The funds for the infrastructure put in by private entity are recovered from the users of the
infrastructure over a period of time. It is possible that this private entity could be a community organization at times.
It is also possible that the private entity or a corporate may partner with a community organization for dong business
– one as a supplier and the other as a buyer etc. The extreme form of partnership is multiple partners delivering the
whole, one piece by one, other piece by the second and so on. State may take the role of a facilitator, regulator,
donor/part-donor, arbitrator and guarantor, private entity or corporate may take the role of a provider/supplier/buyer/
trainer/corporate social responsibility project implementer/ employer, and the community organization/group/
panchayat may be the recipient of the services/buyer/seller/trainee/ intermediary between individual families and the
private entity.
Thus partners share tasks and resources, complementing each other. Typically the partnership/collaboration/
working together/convergence would benefit all the partners. Some partners could be more equal than others. In this
context, ‘livelihoods’ has focused on ‘public-private-community partnership’.
Medha Patkar is synonymous with Narmada Bachao Andolan. She is also leading National Alliance of People’s
Movements. Centre for Youth and Social Development (CYSD) led by its founder, Jagadananda Sahoo, works on
education, livelihoods and governance in the remote areas of Odisha. Supplying gloves and masks in a pollution-
ridden setting is a thriving micro-enterprise activity. “Creating Vibrant Public-Private-Panchayat Partnership (PPPP)
for Inclusive Growth Through Inclusive Governance” (by Harsh Singh) discusses the issues in and ways of local
partnerships at community level. ‘Kshetram’ discusses the livelihoods of Majuli, an island in river Brahmaputra.
In response to the demands from many of our friends, we are working on providing separate ‘how to’ supplement
with each edition from next month onwards. We welcome inputs and suggestions for the same.
We are discussing Partnerships towards National Resource Pool, National Network and National Academy, among
other things. With the appreciation that we cannot go far alone and we need committed long-term partnerships that
make a difference to the poor on scale, I remain thinking of ways to nurture a variety of models and mechanisms of
partnerships.
G Muralidhar
the ‘livelihoods’ team
July 2012 3 livelihoods
For Private Circulation only
For enquiries contact:
AKSHARA Network for Development
Support Services,
HIG II B-25 F-6, APHB Colony,
Baghlingampally, Hyderabad - 500044
Mobile: 09951819345
www.aksharakriti.org
www.livelihoods.net.in
Inside ...
Cover Story: Partnerships
Partnership is an agreement between two or more entities to further
their mutual interests and accomplish a certain goal.
10
Tribals and NTFP 23
Chatanpally Village 24
Response 4
News 5
Legend Medha Patkar 6
Village Organization Suryodaya Grama Samkhya 7
Kshetram Majuli Island 8
Perspectives Local Enterprises and Decent Jobs! 9
Enterprise Gloves and Nose Mask Industry 17
Sub-sector Jute Industry 18
Interview with
Common Person I do not Want to Depend on Anyone.... 22
Tools Introduction Spatial Map 25
Opinion Transport Network for India 26
Development in
Action Centre For Youth and Social Development 28
Interview with
Grassroots Activist I Want To Help Vulnerable People…. 29
Context Socio Economic and Caste Census-2011 30
Books Creating Vibrant Public-Private– Panchayat
Partnership (PPPP) 31
Trends Food Expenditure in Rural and Urban 32
Case Studies Benefited By Escalation Of Land Rates…
Life Crumbles With The Cheating... 33
Contrasts & Story Mutton Centre
Door to Door Vegetable Vending 34
‘Yoga’kshemam 35
‘livelihoods’ team
Editor-in-Chief G Muralidhar
Working Editors
B Ramya
T Venkateshwarlu
Edit Associates T Aparna Gayathri S Laxman
M Nilendu
K Ramesh
M Siddhartha
K Bharathi`
G Bhargava
B Madhusudhan
G Madhu Vamsi
V Muralidhar
Dr. D Narasimha Reddy
T Nirmala
S Rekha
B Sai Srinivas
M Vijaybhasker S
Walked/ Walking with Us
G Rajesh
M Chanukya Rao
V Sainath
V Pradeep Kumar
MD Masood Ali
M Vinod Kumar
T Karthik
B Bharath Raj
T Omprakash
Guest Contributors to this edition:
Interns from Faculty of Science and
Technology (ICFAI ) Hyderabad.
July 2012 4 livelihoods
Thank you very much for valuable information, I extend my grateful gratitude for
your knowledge enhancement motive. I shall try to develop more readers as well
as contributors .
Thanks & Regards
Dr. Suhas G. Shukla, CSR, Suzlon foundation, Daman
Greetings from Seenivasan. I used to read Livelihoods whenever I see the link in
IRMA alumni. It is nicely done, very informative and definitely thorough. Keep the
good work.
Regards,
R.Seenivasan
Thanks for sharing the “Livelihoods”. I have gone through it and found it to be
very informative.
Bets regards,
BARTHOLOMEW J. BASUMATARY Director - Programmes, SOS CV India
Response
July 2012 5 livelihoods
News Fall in Price Hits Coconut Farmers,
Kerala: Steady fall in coconut prices
in recent months coupled with acute
shortage of labour and steep hike in
labour charges has put the coconut
farmers in the State in a crisis
situation. The price of raw coconut,
that used to fetch Rs.20 to Rs.22 a kg
till six months ago, has fallen to Rs.11
a kg.
Poor Rainfall Pours Water On
Farmers’ Hopes, Kerala: Monsoon
deficiency has dashed the hopes of
the farming community in Wayanad, a
major coffee, pepper, and ginger-
growing region. The data of the
Regional Agriculture Research Station
(RARS) of the Kerala Agricultural
University, Ambalavayal, show that
the district got 154.8 mm rainfall from
June 1 to 29, as against the 510 mm
during the corresponding period last
year.
Bank Of Baroda Provides Weaver
Cards, Tamil Nadu: Bank of Baroda
has started distribution of weaver
credit cards to handloom weavers in
the State. General Manager (Tamil
Nadu and Kerala) of Bank of Baroda,
which the card holders would be able
to withdraw amount using the card
and the limit would be fixed depending
on their term and working capital
loans. The banks in the State would
distribute 20,000 weaver credit cards
and Bank of Baroda would distribute
1,000 to 1,500 of these. Under
financial inclusion, the bank had
covered 81 villages and opened ultra
small branches in all these villages
Broadband Facility For 25,000
Gram Panchayats, Hyderabad: Over
25,000 gram panchayats in the State
will be brought under the coverage of
the National Optical Fibre Network
(NOFN) being launched by the Union
Government at a massive outlay of
Rs. 20,000 crore to extend broadband
facility to 2.5 lakh villages in the
country in two years. The extension
of the NOFN to villages would
facilitate payment of subsidies,
enrolment under National Rural
Employment Guarantee Scheme and
the like, registration of below-poverty-
level families and a variety of
government-to-people activities,
including “remote education” through
audio-video facilities. By November
2013, 95 per cent of the villages
would be covered.
Prime Minister Sanctions 500 Crore
for Assam, Guwahati: Prime Minister
announced an ad hoc support of Rs.
500-crore for flood-hit Assam. He
noted that the State government had
distributed 10,000 quintals of food
items among the flood-affected. If
required, the Centre would quickly
move additional quantities of essential
commodities to the State. The
National Disaster Response Force
had deployed 16 teams, comprising
640 men along with 71 boats and
flood rescue equipment.
State Launches Free Notebook
Scheme, Chennai: “The State
Government is giving students
everything from notebooks to
uniforms, to make Tamil Nadu
achieve 100 per cent literacy. All that
parents have to do now is send their
children to school,” said N.R.
Sivapathy, Minister for School
Education, at the Government Girls
Higher Secondary School, Ashok
Nagar , l aunch ing the Sta te
Government ’s ‘ f ree notebook
scheme’. The scheme will cover
s tudents of government and
government-aided schools from
classes I to X. While students of
classes I to VIII will receive the
notebooks once each trimester,
students of classes IX and X would
receive them for the entire academic
year. Outlining the distribution
schedule, D. Sabitha, Secretary,
School Education Department, said,
“Students of classes IX and X will
receive them by July 20. Students of
classes I to VIII will receive the
notebooks for the first trimester by
August, second trimester by October
and third trimester by January 2.” The
notebooks.
1 Crore Jobs To Be Created In U.P.
Lucknow: One crore jobs will be
created in Uttar Pradesh during the 12
Five Year Plan period (21012-17) with
the growth rate target being fixed at
10 per cent. A proposal of Rs.361,000
crore for all-round development of the
State will be sent to the Planning
Commission in New Delhi. These
decisions were taken at a meeting of
the State Planning Commission here
on Monday.
World Bank To Release Funds For
Upgrade Of Bandel Plant, Kolkata:
The World Bank has in principle
agreed to release additional funds for
rehabilitation and modernisation of the
age-old Bandel Thermal Power plant
in West Bengal . The fifth unit of the
thermal power station is set to be
refurbished with funding from the multi
-lateral agency. Official sources said
that while the World Bank was
supposed to release 74 per cent of
the funds required for the project,
problem arose as the cost escalated
from the original Rs 472 crore to Rs
650 crore. The Power Department has
moved the World Bank to release their
quota for fund-based on the revised
estimate and in principle the World
Bank has agreed to release the same,
subject to release of a matching grant
by the Government.
Government Will Have To Think Of
Contributory Pension Scheme,
Kerala: The government will have to
seriously think of implementing a
contributory pension scheme for new
entrants in service in future as the
service pension bills are set to exceed
the employees’ salary soon, Chief
Minister Oommen Chandy has said.
Replying to questions in the
Assembly, Mr.Chandy said between
2001-02 and 2010-11, there was a
three-fold increase in the financial
liability for giving pension to the
employees. During 2011-12 alone the
pension l iabil i ty amounted to
Rs.8,699.3 crore. Kerala was among
the three States that had not
implemented the scheme and hence
would have to consider it without
upsetting the existing scheme. �
(News Source; The Hindu)
July 2012 6 livelihoods
Legend
Medha Patkar
Medha Patkar is a noted social activist in
India. She has been at the helm of many
campaigns demanding justice for the poor.
With her landmark movement– Narmada
Bachao Andolan (NBA), Ms. Patkar left an
indelible impression on scores of Indians.
Ms. Patkar, born in Mumbai on 1 December 1954 to Indu
and Vasanth Kanolkar, a Trade Union Leader and Freedom
Fighter. She was brought up by politically and socially
active parents. Her mother was a member of Swadar, an
organization set up to help and assist women suffering
difficult circumstances arising out of financial, educational
and health related problems. Ms. Patkar counts her
parents’ activism as an important and early influence in
shaping her pro-poor and pro-justice outlook.
Ms. Patkar completed a M.A. Social Work from Tata
Institute of Social Sciences. She went on to pursue a Ph.D
from the Institute and also took up a teaching post
simultaneously. In 1989, she gave up both and established
NBA.
NBA was formed to oppose the ambitious Narmada Valley
Development Project (NDVP). Under the NDVP, 3165
dams were proposed to be built on the Narmada River in
the state’s bid for developing infrastructure. This also
included raising the height of the Sardar Sarovar Project.
The state governments of Maharashtra and Gujarat
claimed the project would put an end to water and
electricity woes in the states. However, SSP threatened to
evict 1, 50,000 people and indirectly affect 2, 00,000 people
who depended on the river for their livelihoods and
sustenance. The NBA swelled into a massive movement
questioning the destructive nature of this kind of
development. The NBA brought hitherto unquestioned
principles to the table- the very purpose of projects and
water usage.
In 1991, Ms. Patkar went on a Satyagraha-style march-
Sangharsh Yatra- to on the banks of the Narmada,
prepared to drown in the rising reservoir water. In
response, the Government cracked down on Ms. Patkar’s
supporters, injuring several of them. NBA also filed a
petition in the Supreme Court to stop the construction of the
dam. In 2000, the Court gave the go-ahead for the dam
construction but directed the Project to adhere to
environment regulations stringently.
The impact of NBA can be appreciated by the fact that the
author of “Deep Water:
The Epic Struggle Over
Dams, Displaced People,
and the Environments
(Farrar, Straus & Giroux,
2005), Jacques Leslie
devoted one third of the
book to a portrait of
Medha Patkar.
Ms. Patkar founded the
National Alliance Of
People’s Movement
(NAPM) challenging globalization and its claims of
“development”, to facilitate unity and provide strength to
people’s movements in India working towards a just
alternative.
She supports “development consisting of replicable small-
scale decentralized, democratic and ecologically
sustainable options and activities harmoniously integrated
with both local communities and nature”. In place of dams,
NBA calls for an energy and water strategy, based on
improving dry farming technology, watershed development,
small dams, lift schemes for irrigation of drinking water and
improved efficiency and utilization of existing dams.
Ms. Patkar played a pivotal role in the protest against Tata
Motors’ Nano Car project at Singur in West Bengal, which
usurped fertile agriculture land that belonged to local
farmers. She also led struggles against SEZs and lead a
movement ‘Nandigram to Narmada Campaign’ against farm
land acquisition for industrial purposes.
Ms. Patkar has been the recipient of many awards for her
struggles for the cause of underprivileged and adivasis.
She received “Right Livelihood Award” In 1991, The 1991
M.A. Thomas National Human Rights Award from Vigil
India Movement, Deena Nath Mangeshkar Award,
Mahatma Phule Award, Goldman Environment Prize,
Green Ribbon Award for best International Political
Campaigner by BBC, and the Human rights Defender
Award from Amnesty International.
The range of issues Ms. Patkar has championed is
impressive- from slum-dwellers’ rehabilitation in Mumbai to
protesting against genetically modified seeds, pesticide-
fertilizers oriented market agriculture that was forced on
Indian farmers by WTO, IMF and MNCs. Her activism has
thrown light on important issues of and challenged the
status quo understanding of development. �
July 2012 7 livelihoods
There is one Village Organization (VO) in Chatanpally– Suryodaya Mahila Gramakhya Sangam (SMGS). SMGS was
registered in 2000 and has a membership of 26 SHGs and 230 members.
It monitors all the SHGs in the village. The VO conducts a meeting in the first week of every month.
The VO’s current president is Jayamma, she has held the post for the last 12 years. The VO book-keeper’s name is
Shanthi. She has been working since six months.
The VO leaders attend mandal level meetings every month. The VO leader passes on the details of the mandal level
meeting at the VO meeting. Presently, it has a corpus of Rs 7000. The VO is aware of women’s issues. It has not
started any business and collectives. �
Suryodaya Grama Samkhya
Village Organization
Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) Scheme
Janani Suraksha Yojana is being implemented in Chatanpally since 2005. Janani Suraksha Yojana is an intervention to
enhance maternal care under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) . JSY’s objective is reducing maternal and neo
natal mortality by the promoting institutional delivery and medical care during pregnancy, delivery, and also post delivery
period for the poor pregnant women in the country. JSY is a 100% centrally sponsored scheme. The National Maternity
Benefit Scheme (NMBS) is included in this scheme.
BPL women above 19 years are eligible to access this scheme. Under JSY, pregnant women receive an incentive of Rs.
1,000. So far, only 81 women have benefitted from the scheme. The ASHA workers explain he reason behind this is that
most women prefer private hospitals over government services.
For last mile delivery of the scheme, ASHA workers and ANMs were introduced. The ASHA worker focuses on pre- preg-
nancy, pregnancy and post-pregnancy women issues in their villages. There are two ASHA workers in the village- B.
Lalitha and G. Lalitha. Their services are available to the villagers round the clock. For the sake of effective implementa-
tion, they have divided the village into two parts. Each deals with about 200 families. Their responsibilities include
spreading awareness regarding reproductive and maternal health among the women in the village. The ASHA workers
organise pulse polio camps, health camps, vaccination camps, etc. They also observe health-related days such as Na-
tional Health Education Day, Immunization Day, etc.
The ASHA workers’ role in the scheme include-
∗ Pregnant women identification
∗ Helping in the ANC checkups include TT injections and IFA tablets
∗ Spreading awareness regarding institutional deliveries
∗ Giving company admits in hospital up to women is discharge from hospital
∗ Arrange immunization for new born (up to 14 weeks)
∗ Inform and note about new born and death of the child and mother to ANM
∗ Post natal visits after deliveries and spreading awareness on colostrums feeding and breast feeding to mother and
family members
∗ Promoting family planning-vasectomy or Tubectomy.
ASHA worker is the key person in the village. Along with facilitating health services to the people in the hospitals she
also mobilized the people to health camps and 104 health service centers. �
July 2012 8 livelihoods
Kshetram
Majuli, in Assam, is the largest inhabited river
island in the world. It is situated in the upper
reaches of the Brahmaputra. It is about 200
km from Guwahati, the state capital. It has
been declared as a UNESCO World Heritage
Site.
The island has a population of 1,50,000 living
in its 144 villages (the average population
density being 300 people per sq.km). The
island is overwhelmingly dominated by tribal
communities. The major communities include
Mishing (originally from Arunachal Pradesh),
Koch, Chutiya, Mising, Deori, Kaibortya,
Sonowal Kachari etc. The tribes speak in
Mishing, Assamese and Deori languages.
A ferry service which operates twice a day is the only
mode of transport to and from the Island. The literacy rate
in Majuli is quite high at 77.9%.
Agriculture is the most dominant livelihood on the Island-
about 90% engage in agriculture. Both Rabi and Kharif
crops are cultivated, though the Rabi season is preferred.
The Kariff crop often fails due to inundation of the fields as
a result of incessant rainfall. Main crops grown in Majuli
include Rice, Maize, Wheat, Black Gram, Vegetables,
Fruits, other food crops, Cotton, Jute, Castor, and Sugar
Cane etc. There are as many as a hundred different
varieties of rice cultivated on the Island.
Pisciculture is another major livelihood in Majuli. There are
60 fishing grounds on the Island. Pottery is another
common livelihood activity. Majuli pottery is famous for its
design and quality of products and artifacts. Boat making is
also a thriving livelihood on the Island, around 3000
families depend on boat making as a livelihood. Cattle
rearing and dairy farming, bamboo craft constitute the
other livelihoods on the Island. Handloom weaving is also
a major occupation in Majuli. Mishing women make a fabric
called “Mirizim” renowned for its exotic designs. About 20
villages depend on sericulture for their livelihoods. There
are no industries or factories in Majuli.
Owing to its unique ecosystem, Majuli is a tourism hotspot.
The Island has much to offer both in terms of culture and
natural beauty. Majuli has been a major pilgrimage for
Vaishnavisties since the time of Ahom rules.
Majuli is facing is a serious ecological threat. The Island
which was over 1250 sqkm in the 1950s has been reduced
to just 850 sqkm now due to continuous erosion by the
Brahmaputra. In the process, it is wiping out scores of
villages and displacing thousands of people.
In addition to recurring floods, the island is
facing a heavy loss of landmass due to
processes like channel bank erosion and
change/migration of channel. The erosion is
more severe on the southern side along the
Brahmaputra. Since 1991, over 35 villages
have been washed away.
In 1990, prominent rural development
activist Sanjay Ghose tried out an
experiment by building a 1.7 km-long, 30-
degree flood-and-erosion-resistant slope at
Pohardiya. Unfortunately, his work drew the
attention of the embankment-contractors-
ULFA nexus. Ghose was abducted and
killed in 1997. Still ULFA continues to deter
development efforts on the Island. �
Majuli Island
July 2012 9 livelihoods
Happy Guru Poornima! Let us celebrate Friendship! Let us pray and pay back ‘indigenous’ for letting us co-exist!
While monsoon is slow to pace up elsewhere, Assam has been hit with floods. About a third of India may have to be declared drought-hit. Country has been hit badly with power cuts. Life goes on. Pranab Mukherjee is certain to be our new President. Rahul makes the big announcement: he is ready for a bigger role.
Poll on Greatest Indian after Mahatma is going on and Ambedkar and Sardar Patel are leading. Meanwhile, Government confirms that nothing is official about Mahatma’s Father of Nation title. The announcement of discovery of Higgs boson (God’s particle) confirms the last subatomic particle is real in the Standard Model describing the fundamental particles from which we, and every visible thing in the universe (i.e. about 4%), are made, and the forces acting between them.
The streams of thought and work that continued to dominate the month include knowledge management and training, apart from visioning, planning, implementing, support and monitoring for livelihoods – processes and tools. Employment and enterprises drew special attention too. Handlooms, Crafts, Tourism and PRIs have also taken some time. I gather PMRDFs are settling down and hope the system lets them to be useful.
Government of AP is re-elevating 3 Gurukulams - Residential Schools (Sarvail, Tadikonda and Kodigenahalli) that inspired Residential Schools and Navodaya Schools in the country – as Regional Institutions of Excellence. Hope they continue to take and nurture the brightest to be useful to this society and inspire more such models!
People below ‘poverty line’ are suffering. Interestingly the people living above the ‘comfortable standard’ are not able enhance their happiness any significantly. It seems USD 25000-75000 per year is a comfortable standard in US. Additional income, if used for underindulgence (buying less), buying experiences, and buying for others, gives higher joy and happiness. Can we go and tell our ‘rich’ friends to do this more often?
MPAT, recently developed multidimensional poverty assessment tool, can be used to assess and support rural poverty alleviation efforts at a macro level. Its focus is on fundamental and relatively universal dimensions of rural livelihoods and rural life, and thus of rural poverty. It looks at 10 dimensions central to rural livelihoods – food and nutrition security; domestic water supply; health and healthcare; sanitation and hygiene; housing, clothing and energy; education; farm assets; non-farm assets; exposure and resilience to shocks; and gender and social equity. The scores on each dimension and the overall composite indices could be compared across regions. But, the solutions being specific to local context, there is a need to dig deep and discover the gaps that need to be plugged and opportunities that could be tapped.
Joseph Stiglitz was convinced – asymmetric information (when some individuals have access to privileged
knowledge that others don't), free markets yield bad outcomes for wider society through rent seeking [appropriating resources from someone else rather than creating new wealth] and taking advantage. The huge inequalities of income and wealth that have developed are not only unjust in themselves but are retarding growth. Therefore, larger public good demands legislation against asymmetric information, redistribution through higher taxation and punishments for people responsible for asymmetry. We cannot agree more!
Sagari has discovered that our breeds (like Ongole) have been stolen and new breeds (like Australian Brahman) have been developed that support global beef industry. May be it is time to breed and rear our indigenous breeds - the Ongole, the Hallikar, the Deoni, the Pandharpuri buffalo, the Asil poultry, the Deccani Sheep, the Kanchu Dwarf Goat etc. Are we sure we need exotic Jersey, Holstein Friesians, Boar Goats in our country? Sagari is not. I am not.
In India, we need to create 100 million jobs over the next decade. Only the entrepreneurs can do this. Mostly the
start-ups! Majority of them would be tiny/nano/micro/small/medium enterprises! But we know lot of them fail before, may be several times, they succeed. We need an environment that accepts effort. We need an ecosystem that supports failed entrepreneurs. We need to identify the
willing potential entrepreneurs, mentor them and support them their visions, plans and sincere efforts, through ups and downs. Can we?
We hear Government is investing Rs.200 Billion to set up National Optical Fibre Network, by laying about 5 lakh kilometers of optical fibre, to provide broadband connectivity to all 250,000 Gram Panchayats. Nationally, the effort is to roll-out e-Services and e-Applications – pan India and pan state G2C Services up to GP level; services of public sector undertakings. Hope this becomes a reality. India Development Gateway, you could play a significant role here!
It appears that our growth would be useful, if it is able to absorb the labour from agriculture into non-agriculture – non-farm activities, manufacturing and services. Thankfully, many of the young men and women would like to get out of farming and other traditional occupations and their families too want them to get out. Unfortunately, we do not seem to have robust and well-crafted methods and mechanisms to absorb them elsewhere with decent wages, security and self-respect intact. We need to find new areas, other than construction and retail trade/sales, to absorb these in large numbers, say 20 million a year - some 2 million in the development sector and social enterprises, and another 6 million in local value-addition enterprises. The agenda is to counsel, skill and nurture young men and women for these jobs and to start individual and collective enterprises. Of course, we need to be cautious that old persons are not pushed out of their dignified existence.
Now, the institutional architecture that supports local enterprises and decent jobs is to be built, nurture and
mentored. �
Perspectives
G Muralidhar
Local Enterprises and Decent Jobs!
July 2012 10 livelihoods
Partnerships
Cover Story
Partnership has become a viable model to provide improved quality services and facilities
like education, health, infrastructure, tourism and telecommunication, poverty eradication
programs etc. Increasing population, financial deficiency, human resources, low
capacities, inefficient monitoring and evolution methods are major cause for partnerships
between public and private in public sector.
July 2012 11 livelihoods
Partnership is an agreement between
two or more entities to further their
mutual interests and accomplish a
certain goal. Partnership, as a strategy to
pursue common interests has always
existed and proven to be effective in
reaching goals efficiently. Partnerships
exist between governments, private,
community, NGOs and academic or
scientific communities. Here we are
focusing partnership between public
entity, private sector, NGOs, CBOs and
communities. These partnerships provide
various services to the people and
playing key role in the country
development. We can see the
partnerships in every sector like
education, health, infrastructure,
electricity and livelihoods interventions.
In these partnerships public-private
partnership has evolved as one of the
major partnership models in the country.
The public sector is riddled with inefficiency and red tapism
that prevent it from delivering effectively. Moreover, the
public sector has generally resisted change and failed to
adapt to rapidly changing contexts– new technologies,
market competition, rise in literacy levels, etc.. Further,
public sector initiatives often grapple with financial
crunches due to their not-for profit motive and also
mismanagement of funds.
Public-private partnership is an arrangement between
government entities and private entities to share resources
and skills to deliver benefits. It is designed to provide
quality and timely services to the target group by providing
scope to the private sector to utilize resources and the
public sector to employ the expertise of the private partner.
Over the years, the world has gradually moved from state
owned industries to partnerships, public-private
ownerships and private ownerships in service sector.
The public-private partnership model is an attempt to fuse
the best of both the sectors. This partnership has given
birth to different organisation structure and a new business
ethic. It is a different structure which includes various types
of partnerships in the enterprises. It is designed on the
basis of specific agreements between the partners.
The salient features of the Public-Private Partnerships
(PPP):
∗ They have mutual cooperation and collaboration
between public and private sector in maintenance and
delivering services. These contracts and collaborations
were designed to provide quality services to the
people. These arrangements were
prepared to develop expertise and
capacities. These are designed for
specified period from 15 to 30 years
∗ The responsibilities are shared
between public and private bodies. In
some cases the private sector may share
more responsibility but ultimately the
government is accountable and
responsible in meeting the needs of the
people
∗ The risks in designing, construction
and management is transferred from
public sector to private sector and
managed by the skill and expertise of the
private sector
July 2012 12 livelihoods
∗ Flexible ownership systems are an important feature
of the PPP model. In some cases the private operators
may implement the project hand it over to the public
body for the maintenance or private body may
maintain the enterprise or government
may run the enterprise
Partnerships can be made with private
agencies, NGOs, communities and
panchayats. There are different models of
partnerships existing in funding,
maintaining and managing the enterprises.-
Design - Build (DB): The private sector
designs and builds the assetand hands its
over to the public body at a fixed price. In
this model risks are transferred to the
private sector agency.
Operation & Maintenance (O&P): Private
agency takes charge maintaining and
operating the assets of the public body.
The asset is owned by the public entity.
Design-Build- Finance-Operate (DBFO):
The private partner design and finance to
build the infrastructure. After establishing
the infrastructure the private partner
operates the project and collect service fee
according to the mutual agreement at time
partnership preparation. Generally these
agreements prepare long term leasing
system. After the contract period
completion private partner has handover
the asset to the public sector body.
Build-Own-Operate (BOO): The private
partner finances and builds the
infrastructure and after the infrastructure
establishment private partner owns it and
operates it . In this partnership public
sector plays a regulatory role.
Build- Own-Operate- Transfer (BOOT): The
private sector partner design, finance, builds the
infrastructure and for a specified period as
mentioned in the agreement with public sector
operates the infrastructure. In that time the
private operator collect the service charges from
the users. After the agreement period time
completion the ownership is transferred back to
the public sector partner.
Buy-Build- Operate (BBO): The public sector
owned assets are transferred to private partner
to operate for a specified period of time as per
agreement.
Build- Lease-Operate- Transfer (BLOT): The sector
partner lease the public land for a specified period of time
and finance, build and operates the infrastructure. After
July 2012 13 livelihoods
agreement period completion
the private partner returns
back to the public sector
partner.
Operation license: This
model used in information
technology sector. Private
partner get permission to
operate the public service
facility for a specified period.
Finance: The private sector
partner gives only finance
service to the infrastructure
and collects charges from the
public sector for its funds
utilization.
The process of establishing the
par tnersh ip is b roadly
categorized into 4 stages- identification stage,
development stage, procurement stage, and management
& monitoring stage.
The identification stage includes plan designing,
feasibility analysis, financial assessment, partnership
suitability check and internal clearances.
Development stage includes technology feasibility and
financial viability, designing project structure, preparation
of contractual documents, getting project clearance and
approval.
In the procurement stage cover assuring the
accountability, transparence, non-discriminatory and timely
services delivery mechanism and it also facilitates
maximum private sector participation.
Management and monitoring stage covers efficient and
effective governance process.
PPP is not just transactions or contract between public
sector and private sector. It needs shared vision,
objectives, investments, risks and rewards. Genuine
partnership needs suitable environment and requires-..
∗ A suitable environment allowing the
partners to pursue their interest
∗ Facilitating trust and suitable attitude
between public and private partners
∗ Making transparent and accountable
management and financial systems
∗ Establishing an authorization processes
and well planned structures which ensures
service delivery
∗ Developing managerial skills in public and
private partners
∗ Establishing suitable environment which
facilitates shared responsibility, investment
and accountability
One of the prominent examples of PPP has
been in the infrastructure development sector.
The shortage of infrastructure prevents
economic growth and restricts access to
services such as telecommunications and
July 2012 14 livelihoods
opportunities such as marketing and services in rural
areas.
The country is planning to increase budget on
infrastructure development from 5% to 9% of the GDP. But
the government does not have sufficient financial
resources and management capacities to establish and
operate infrastructure. This situation leads to number of
PPPs in many sectors like transport (road, port and civil
aviation), ports, telecom and power in the infrastructure
sector.
The government started different types of partnership
models in the infrastructure sector like public contracting,
private partner maintenance, and public –private joint
ventures and long term contract agreements. More than
Rs. 1000 billion worth partnership enterprises are
operating across the country. Both central and state
governments are scaling up the partnership enterprises to
develop the infrastructure sector.
Health sector is second to the infrastructure sector in PPP.
GoI is working through several partnership models in
clinical contraception, contracting slum level health centers
in urban areas and rural health centers, social marketing
and providing pediatric emergency services.
July 2012 15 livelihoods
The clinical contraception intervention is being implemented
in Uttar Pradesh. The Department of Health and Family
Welfare (DHFW) is providing sterilization and intra-uterine
services to the rural poor in partnership with private
hospitals and nursing homes. Urban slum level health
centers are running in Andhra Pradesh. In this model, the
government built well-equipped health centers in slums. It
then hands them over to local NGOs/development
organisations to maintain the centers and provide health
services to the poor. The government pays 70% of the cost
and the remaining cost is borne by the NGOs/development
organisation.
The 108 and 104 health services are another example of
PPP in the health sector. These agencies provide
emergency medical services and giving regular medical
services in remote areas. Here, government spends 95%
and private partners provide technical and management
support.
In the education sector, government entered into
partnerships with development organisations to fulfill its
agenda of universal education. Mostly, the government
provides financial support and the private parties manage
education institutions.
Government has also planned partnership models for
placement oriented trainings with NGOs partnership. These
NGOs agree with the Government and its agencies to train
and place unemployed youth in rural and urban areas.
Organisations like DRF and Il & FS run many such training
centers and providing placements. They depend on the
government for funds.
Government of India set National Rural Livelihoods Mission
(NRLM) to support the livelihoods of 7 Crore poor families
across the country through providing financial and other
services by creating strong institutional platforms for poor.
NRLM has entered into partnerships with Resource
Organizations (RO) on five broad fields like training and
capacity building of the staff, community professionals and
other stakeholders, developing knowledge management
and learning systems, developing best practice models and
immersion locations, implementing support in specific
activities and locations and technical assistance in thematic
areas.
Government is also implementing watershed programmes
through partnerships with local organisations and also the
community. It promotes the formation of Water Users
Groups and devolves the operation and maintenance of the
watershed to these groups.
The government supports the groups financially. Similarly,
July 2012 16 livelihoods
also promotes community participation in the forest
protection. Vana Samrakshana Samithis formed with local
communities.
Public-private partnership benefits in many way to both the
public and private sectors. It mobilizes the resources
efficiently. PPPs create stable growth in the private sector
business and private sector also learns to run big
enterprises and innovative designing and delivering
mechanisms.
There are issues are in the public-private partnership.
Sometimes, the partnership results in a transfer of
ownership from the public sector to private partner. The
public sector role becomes limited and there is no scope to
intervene in the management. Partnerships planning,
appraisal, approval and implementation may take more
time and becomes expensive. It increases the cost of the
enterprises. Some public services demand more
transparency and accountability which may not difficult in
private partnerships.
Some problems in PPP are as follows:
∗ Disputes and misunderstandings may arise between
the partners leading to the the enterprises becoming
inefficient
∗ The expected results in the period agreement time may
not achieved
∗ Performance Improving possibilities might lost
In public sector also there are more problems which
prevent the successes of the partnerships models. We can
see these problems in the public sector from designing to
management and monitoring to evaluation and lack of
adoptability nature according to the change conditions.
In the most of the partnership programs local communities
participation absent or negligible.
The low community participation prevents the quality and
effectiveness of the services. It also affects the
sustainability of the enterprises. This situation demands
more participation from local communities in the
enterprises. The regular monitoring can be possible by the
involvement of the community. Enterprises can adopt new
changes when it gives much place for the community
involvement. Community participation enhances the
transparency and accountability.
Particularly communities should own the enterprises. It is
the base for the sustainability of the enterprises. This leads
the formation of Public Private Community Participation
(PPCP) in the enterprises. The PPCP enhances the
transparency and accountability in the project. More
community’s involvement gives scope for higher
sustainability. �
28 July - World Nature Conservation Day
July 2012 17 livelihoods
Gloves and Nose Mask Industry
Enterprise
Vijayalaxmi established a gloves and nose mask making unit in 2002 in Ramnagar, Chatanpally village. Vijayalaxmi’s
husband expired 20 years ago and she has been taking care of her children ever since. Soon after her husband’s death,
she worked at a glove and nose-mask factory as a daily wage labourer. At the time, she observed the work there and the
requirements of the industry and decided to open a unit herself. She invested Rs. 25,000 initially and built the business.
However, procuring raw material at low cost, lack of branding made the going tough.
Vijayalakshmi decided to shut down the business and become a supplier of gloves and nose-masks instead. She
purchases the products from wholesale shops in Hyderabad and sells its to the companies. She supplies a variety of
products- masks, gloves, cotton waste, cleaning instruments, wiring tape, phenol, wires, cables etc. and many other
products if ordered by the company. On an average she earns Rs. 2 Lakh per month of which 20% is profit. Her
expenses on the business are Rs. 22250 per month. The income and expenditure details as follows. �
Monthly Income & Expenditure in Rs.
S. No Item Amount in Rs.
Monthly Expenditure in Rs.
1 Transport 3500
2 Manager Salary 4000
3 Interest on loan 4000
4 Labour Wages 10000
5 Others 750
Total Monthly Expenditure 22250
Monthly Income in Rs.
1 Monthly Trade Items Value 200000
Total Profit Monthly in Rs.
Monthly income (20%) in the total selling value 40000
Total Monthly Expenditure 22250
Monthly Profit 17750
July 2012 18 livelihoods
The jute industry is one of the oldest in the country. The
first jute mill was established in Kolkata in 1855 and by
1910, there were 38 jute-processing companies in the
country. Today, the jute industry accounts for Rs. 6089
million worth of exports on an average every year. It is
estimated that a whopping 1605 tonnes of jute is produced
in the country each year.
Jute is a natural vegetable fibre and belongs to the same
family of fibre as bast, flax and ramie. Approximately 822
thousand hectares are under jute cultivation in India. Jute is
generally grown in the eastern and north-eastern parts of
the country in states as- West Bengal (accounts for 71% of
the cultivation), followed by Bihar, Assam, Tripura,
Meghalaya and Uttar Pradesh. There are two types of jute-
White jute (Corchorus capsularis) and Tossa jute
(Corchorus olitorius).
Raw jute is as much demanded as other, value-added
forms of the fibre. Raw jute is procured by jute mill owners.
Jute Farming
Jute is generally cultivated between March and May and
harvested between June and September. Grey alluvial soil
is best suited to jute, with 24-o-38-o C being the ideal
temperature for a good yield.
The harvested crop is allowed to shed its leaves. The stalks
are sorted within 120-150 days of the shedding and they
are steeped in water.
The fibre is then extracted and washed thoroughly. The
excess water is squeezed out of the fibre and it is sun-dried
for 2-3 days.
Often referred to as the “golden fibre” jute has been used to
make rope, twine, packing material and even clothes since
ages. Owing to its biodegradable, eco-friendly
characteristics, jute is fast gaining ground as a viable
alternative to plastic. The fibre is then graded into 5
categories- tops, bottoms, B, C and X-bottoms. Bundles of
fibre under each category are formed and packed into
kutcha bales (approx. 250 kg).
The jute bales are then sent to mills where they are
processed into cloth. At the mill, the jute fibre undergoes a
Subsector
Jute Industry
Years Area under cultivation (‘000
hectare) 1998-99 1025
1999-00 1036
2000-01 1018
2001-02 1049
2002-03 1021
2003-04 959
2004-05 913
2005-06 931
2006-07 949
2007-08 971
2008-09 926
July 2012 19 livelihoods
rigorous process as shown above.
Jute farming has run into a myriad problems over
the years. Once a chief crop for many farmers
across the eastern and north-eastern parts of the
country, its cultivation has been pushed to smaller
land areas. There is a dramatic fall in the acreage
of jute cultivation.
This trend was spawned by a decline in jute
demand, thanks to the entry of cheaper synthetic
substitutes. Further, most farmers have not been
able to adopt technological innovations to
enhance the yield.
But the most pressing remains the volatile market
prices that the farmers cannot cope with. In
addition, the farmers are often exploited by local
traders and are forced to sell their produce at
rates well below the market rates. Since the
farmers lack proper storage facilities, they do not
have the leverage to store their yield and sell it
when the prices are favourable.
Basic Jute Products
Jute has been used for multiple purposes for
centuries. The basic products that emerge from
the fibre are-
Hessian Cloth- Also known as burlap, is a plain
woven cloth of superior quality of jute fibre. It is
used for various purposes, most prominently to
make bags. The Hessian cloth is exported all over
the world from India.
Sacking Cloth- The sacking cloth is made of lower grade
of fibres. As the name suggests, the cloth is used to make
bags to store grains, pulses, etc.
Jute Yarn and Twines- is consumed by jute mills in making
fabric and twine. Fine Yarn is manufactured exclusively for
export purpose and utilised for making jute blended fabrics,
diversified jute goods ropes and decorate wall covering.
Jute Twine is varying weights and thickness is extensively
used in India and abroad for sewing, tying and other
industrial applications.
Canvas- Canvas is the finest jute product. Jute
canvas widely used in India for protection from
weather. Canvas and Screin lamination with paper
polythene is used in mines.
Bags. Shopping Bags are made from hessian or
sacking cloths with handles, straps, chains in
different shapes and dimensions. They are used
specially for marketing. They are bleached and
decorated with different artistic designs. Promotional
bags are generally sample bags to promote items for
sale. Polylined / Polylamined bags are hessian or
sacking bags with a coated polythene film.
Hydrocarbon Free Jute Cloth. Hydrocarbon free
jute cloth is a hessian fabric free from the presence
of hydrocarbon. it is made by treating jute with
vegetable oil. These type of bags are extensively
used for packing of coffee, cocoa, peanut beans or
July 2012 20 livelihoods
other food material. The bags are free from any kerosene
smell.
Geotextiles. Geotextiles are jute cloths that help to prevent
soil erosion and landslides. They laid alongside river
banks, hill slopes etc. to restrict soil erosion.
Sacking cloth is heavy, loosely woven cloth. Sacking cloth
is used for jute bags to pack food grains, sugar and Cement
etc. in a weight range from 50 to 100 kg.
Serim Cloth. It is light weight Hessian cloth and used in
the felt industry to reinforce the non-woven fabric. It is also
used for strengthening paper with lamination.
Employment in the Jute Industry
The domestic demand for jute is about 1, 422 thousand
tonnes per annum. Given the scale of the jute industry, it
provides employment to a significant number of people in
the country. It is estimated that there are about a million
jute farmers in the country. It provides direct employment to
about 2.6 lakh industrial workers. Apart from this, it also
provides livelihoods to 1.4 lakh people in the tertiary sector
and allied activities. Currently, there are 76 jute mills
(housing 48 thousand looms) in the country, many of them
located in West Bengal where raw material is easily
available.
Workers in jute mills often find themselves at the receiving
end of harsh working conditions and low wages. They are
usually daily wage labourers and little regulation of the mills
allows mill owners to exploit them with impunity. In fact,
exploitation has been inherent in the jute mill sector. Non-
payment of regular wages and also for overtime are
common. In 2002, a settlement was reached between the
mill owners and the mill workers on the payment of past
arrears. It is estimated that mill owners owe Rs. 35,000 to
each mill worker (on an average). Jute mill workers’ in
India are represented by the National Union for Jute
Workers (NUJW).
Jute mill workers are constantly exposed to dust that
increases their risk to contract diseases like byssinosis, a
chronic lung obstructive disease. There are no measures
take at the mills to reduce this hazard.
Efforts to Revive the Jute Industry
Despite its multiple uses and eco-friendly nature, the jute
fibre has been threatened by cheap substitutes in the
market- especially plastic. This fall in demand for jute
affected workers and producers across the supply chain.
The acreage under cultivation has fallen drastically over the
years. This trend continues, with jute cultivation being
pushed to small lands. To counter fluctuating jute prices,
the Government of India established the Jute Corporation
of India n 1971. The Jute Corporation of India sets the
minimum support price for the fibre. It is also obliged to buy
all the fibre from farmers at the MSP.
Other bodies that work on jute-related issues include the
National Centre for Jute Diversification (NCJD), Indian
Jute Mills Association, the office of the Jute Commissioner,
etc.
In 1987, Parliament passed the Jute Packaging Materials
Act, which called for the packing of certain essential
commodities in jute. The Act is a step to protect the jute
sector and ensure the use of jute packing materials rather
than synthetic substitutes.
Jute figures in the UPA’s Common Minimum Programme as
well. The National Jute Policy was introduced in 2005 as
part of the National Common Minimum Programme. The
objectives of the policy are-
∗ Enable millions of jute farmers to produce better quality
jute fibre for value added diversified jute products and
enable them to enhance per hectare yield of raw jute
substantially;
∗ Facilitate the Jute Sector to attain and sustain a pre-
eminent global standing in the manufacture and export
of jute products; Downloaded Document from the
Website
∗ Enable the jute industry to build world class state-of-
the-art manufacturing capabilities in conformity
∗ with environmental standards, and, for this purpose, to
encourage Foreign Direct Investment, as well as
∗ research and development in the sector;
∗ Sustain and strengthen the traditional knowledge,
skills, and capabilities of our weavers and
∗ craftspeople engaged in the manufacture of traditional
as well as innovative jute products;
∗ Expand productive employment by enabling the growth
of the industry;
∗ Make Information Technology (IT), an integral part of
the entire value chain of jute and the production of jute
goods, and thereby facilitate the industry to achieve
international standards in terms of quality, design, and
marketing;
∗ Increase the quantity of exports of jute and jute
products;
∗ Involve and ensure the active co-operation and
partnership of State Governments, Financial
Institutions, Entrepreneurs, and Farmers’
Organisations in the fulfillment of these objectives
At the beginning of the 11th Five year plan period, the
Government launched the Jute Technology Mission to
address the issues of the jute sector across the value
July 2012 21 livelihoods
chain. The Mission is implemented through four Mini
Missions– each looking at the various stages of production.
The Mission supports the jute farmers by providing them
with quality seeds and other inputs that would result in
better yield, this aspect is supported by the Ministry of
Agriculture. It supports the farmers in marketing the raw
jute at fair prices and establish infrastructure to store
raw jute. The Mission has also set up 9 Jute Parks to
promote jute.
The Government has also made efforts to improve jute
technology. It has dedicated significant R&D resources
to improvise on the existing techniques of the
processing jute fibre.
In recent years, with a global awakening on the issue
of climate change and the need to save the
environment, jute has come to be recognised as a
plausible substitute for plastic.
The jute industry has taken cognizance of the fact that
its survival and indeed regaining its lost glory lies in
diversifying it products. For long, the demand for jute
products had been restricted to packing bags, twine,
etc. Over the past few years, various players have emerged
in the jute industry who have expanded the scope of jute.
Most notably, jute has caught the fancy of the fashion
industry. Jute has become a preferred fabric to make bags,
shoes and other fashion accessories. �
July 2012 22 livelihoods
Q: Tell us about yourself.
A: I live alone. My husband expired 4 years ago. I
have a daughter who is studying in 2nd year,
Intermediate. She lives with my brother in Budvel,
Rajendra Nagar. I had two sons, but they passed
away in their childhood due to health problems.
My husband was a wage labourer. Though we were
not very rich, we had enough to get by. After his
death, our family collapsed and I had to send my
daughter to live with my brother.
Q: Do you have any assets/lands in your village?
A: I don’t own assets or land. I have only small
house in the village.
Q: What do you do for a living?
A: At present I am not doing any work. Earlier, I used to
work as a wage labourer. 3 years ago, I met with an
accident and severely injured my spinal cord. The injury
has crippled me for life and I cannot engage in any work.
Q: How are you surviving without work/assets?
A: I make do with the widow pension of Rs. 200/-. I avail
PDS supplies- rice, kerosene, sugar which is just about
enough. Rice soup has become my staple food, some
days, if I am lucky, I eat vegetables.
Sometimes, I assist the Anganwadi teacher in the village.
Then, she gives me tea and meals at her home.
Q: Who takes care of you when you fall ill?
A: My daughter and brother assist me when I fall ill.
Sometimes the Anganwadi teacher takes care of me.
My husband’s relatives are there in the village, but, they do
not support me, even though they live next door. They
stopped talking to me after my husband passed away.
Q: Do you have electricity at home?
A: At present electricity there is electricity at home. But, my
relatives use the same connection but they don’t pay the
bill so it might get cut anytime.
Q: How often do you see you daughter?
A: She visits me twice a month. I call my brother when I
want to see her and he brings her here.
Q: Do you go any marriages and occasions in the village if
anybody asks to come?
A: No, if anybody asks to come any marriages or
occasions I don’t to go, because if I go there, I should also
ask to come to any occasions or anything. But I don’t do till
my daughter marriage. Earlier, when my husband was
there I used to go and participate in all programmes.
Q: What do you think about moving into an old age home?
A: I don’t agree because I am living happily here. I don’t
want to depend on anyone.
Q: What you would like your daughter in the future? Who
will support to her?
A: She is a bright student. I would like to see her pursue
higher education. I am confident my younger brother will
support my daughter. I hope to marry her into a good
family. �
I do not Want to Depend on Anyone....
Interview with Common Person
Kavali Kishtamma’s (60) husband expired four years ago. She lives alone in Chatanpally village. A few years ago she met with an accident that has rendered her unable to do
any work. ‘Livelihoods’ finds out more about her life.
July 2012 23 livelihoods
Forests are complex ecosystems that support myriad form
of flora and fauna. They help create an ecological balance.
For long, they have served as an abode of wealth for the
numerous indigenous peoples who reside in or around
forests. Indigenous peoples revere forests and every
aspect of their life is intertwined with the forest– right from
their tools to their deities.
The forests provide the communities living in or close to the
forest habitat, shelter, raw materials for household
equipment; other objects like resins, gums and dyes etc.,
wood for building houses, fencing and tool making etc.,
Firewood, herbal medicines; fodder for cattle and grazing
areas; other cultural objects like ornaments and religious
items etc. These are some of the direct benefits the tribals
and indigenous communities get from the forest.
The population of the tribal people who lives and depends
directly on forest is 8-9%. Further, it is estimated that 80%
of the country directly or indirectly use forest produces in
the form of medicine, fruits and wood for furniture and other
various accessories.
A significant portion of the tibal population in India is
concentrated in the central and eastern parts of the country
especially in the states of Jharkahnd, Chattisgarh, Madhya
Pradesh, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh. Odisha, West Bengal
and Maharashtra.
Non-Timber Forest Produce (NTFP) collection is the major
livelihood among tribal people besides shifting agriculture
and daily wage labour. NTFP is defined as “forest products
consisting of goods of biological origin other than wood,
derived from forest, other wood land and trees outside
forests”. It is estimated that 275 million poor rural people in
India—27 percent of the total population— depend on
NTFP for at least a part of their subsistence and cash
livelihoods (Malhotra & Bhattacharya, 2010; Bhattacharya &
Hayat, 2009). This dependency is particularly intense for
half of India’s 89 million tribal people. According to an
estimate the NTFP sector alone is able to create about 10
million workdays annually in the country.
Studies show that NTFP accounts for almost 55% of the
tribal income. Major NTFP include medicinal plants, fruits,
roots and tubers. Many NTFP are thought to have
medicinal properties and are used to treat diseases like
blood pressure, sugar, liver and kidney disorders. Tribals
sell the NTFP in nearby local markets and are often
exploited by the local traders. It is said that the NTFP
collectors receive only .25 paise of the consumer rupee.
Historically, the NTFP sector was neglected for many
decades from mainstream forestry, and they were
considered as ‘minor’ (Minor Forest Produce), despite the
fact that monopoly rights over several such NTFP fetched a
hefty income for the Forest Department. Export of NTFPs
and its products constitutes 68% of the total export from
forestry sector.
The unorganized nature of the NTFP sector has ensured
lack of proper assessment of their actual production/
collection, procurement, dependent population, and trade
transactions. Although few items like bamboo have
relatively organized procurement and marketing thanks to
the consistency in industrial demand, the picture regarding
most of the NTFP is painted with ambiguity.
Slowly, the potential of this sector to contribute to the
livelihood of millions of poor and disadvantaged people
across the world is being recognised.
One of the most pressing issues confronting the NTFP
sector is less or no value addition at local level,
Regeneration, storage and transportation issues, market
volatility and linkages, sustainability of institutional setups,
lack of financial support, Stringent and opaque regulations.
To address these issues, intensive study of value chains of
various NTFP need to be undertaken. Further,
understanding the ownership issues is also important
before finding solutions.
A possible way forward is building sustainable producer
based organizations which will result in tribals earning
better returns from their value added products and hence
improve standard of living.
Further, NTFP has a tremendous potential to involve local
collectors for establishing micro-, small- and medium
enterprises through clear tenured rights, better collection
methods, financial support, capacity development,
infrastructure and institutional support in near future to
create large scale employment opportunity thereby, helping
in reducing poverty and empowerment of the communities
(particularly women). �
Tribals and NTFP
Open Page
Non-Timber Forest Produce (NTFP) -Quick Facts
An important source of food and income of forest communi-ties ranging from 5.4 to 55 percent. All India average value of NTFP to be Rs 1671.54 per hectare. Commercial NTFPs are estimated to generate Rs. 3 billion (US$ 100million) annually in India. India also exports NTFP to the tune of Rs. 10 billion (US $ 384 million) annually. In 2006-07, India earned Rs 39.7 billion from export of NTFP and their valued added extracts.
(Ganguli, 2007)
July 2012 24 livelihoods
One week into our summer internship at Akshara Network,
we were informed about a village visit. For most of us, this
would be the first time we would see a village, let alone stay
there for a couple of days. We imagined villages as remote
areas deprived of the basic
necessities– electricity, water,
health, etc., people living in huts or
kaccha houses and poverty is
common.
We visited Chatanpally, a “semi-
urban” village about 50-60 km from
Hyderabad. Our first sighting of the
village from the auto dispelled every
myth we held about a village. It
simply did not look like the villages
of our imagination. It had a well-
developed network of metal roads
instead of the dilapidated pathways
we expected. Then, there were the
two-three-storey buildings in place of
the huts. This interesting turn of
events diminished our apprehensions of living in a village.
Chatanpally came into existence about 300 years ago. The
internal roads, drainage facility, quality of houses and other
infrastructure in the village are well developed.
The team at Akshara suggested we do a Livelihoods
Enhancement Action Plan (LEAP) exercise to gain an
understanding of the village. The exercise involves
employing a set of 20 or more tools at the village to
understand the village. The tools map aspects as the social
makeup of the village, resource availability, livelihoods in
the village, vulnerabilities,etc. It involves extensive
engagement with the people in the village and keen
observation of their activities.
We began with a transect walk around the village to
familiarize ourselves to the village and its surroundings.
Later, we met Pramila (Anganwadi teacher) and Narendar
Reddy who would support us in the LEAP exercise. Our
team divided into two groups to conduct the LEAP.
The village consists of a Panchayat office, a sub-centre and
a primary school. Village doesn`t have a Primary Health
Centre (PHC), hospital, veterinary clinic. The village has 7
hand-pumps, all out of order.
The village is situated just off National Highway 7 that
connects Bangalore and Hyderabad. The construction of
the highway changed the economics in the village.
Suddenly, the land value increased
dramatically from Rs.30, 000 to 25
lakhs per acre. Some of the farmrs
sold their land and constructed/
modified their houses. Some started
dairy farms and built cowsheds.
Most people are depending on
Shadnagar (the municipality under
which Chatanpally falls) for their
livelihoods.
There are a few ponds near the
village. Agriculture is on the decline
but still a significant livelihood (20%
practice agriculture). Paddy and
maize are the dominant crops. The
farmers are using modern agriculture
implements such as tractors in
farming. They are also using new breeds of seeds which
has enhanced productivity. Farmers are now able to get a
yield of 40 bags of grain per acre, as against 20 bags
earlier. Scarcity of water combined with the real estate
boom resulted in most farmers quitting agriculture and
shifting to work in factories or as daily wage labourers.
Chatanpally, despite all its un-villge like characteristics, still
depends on Shadnagar for the most basic needs. For
instance, the villagers have to go to Shadnagar to
purchase meat or get a haircut. Chatanpally also doesn’t
have a hospital. And there is no bus facility to the village
and private auto facility is limited. There are only 3 autos
running from Shadnagar to Chatanpally and back in the
entire day.
Our visit gave us a sense of village life and poverty. Staying
in the village was something new for us. It was not easy
and tested our patience several times. The frequent power
outages and the unbearable heat made it all the more
challenging. But it was a refreshing experience all the
same, and gave us a glimpse of the “other” India. �
Chatanpally Village
Nine students (1st year, B. Tech) spent four days at Chatanpally, a semi-urban village in Mahaboobnagar district
of Andhra Pradesh. Their account.
Chatanpally, despite all its un-villge
like characteristics, still depends on
Shadnagar for the most basic needs.
For instance, the villagers have to go
to Shadnagar to purchase meat or get
a haircut. Chatanpally also doesn’t
have a hospital. And there is no bus
facility to the village and private auto
facility is limited.
July 2012 25 livelihoods
Chatanpally Village
Spatial Map
Tools
July 2012 26 livelihoods
Transport sector is crucial to the economic development of a country. The Center for Infrastructure, Sustainable and Urban Planning (CiSTUP) organized a workshop on ‘Transport Network for India Vision 2020 on April 2010 at Bangalore, Karnataka State. Some excerpts-
Workshop Objectives;
∗ To review the infrastructure and service markets of road, rail, air and waterway transport modes in the Indian context;
∗ Undertaken an integrated, system approach to multimodal transport network that includes land, sea and air transport throughout India;
∗ To identify the key issues and challenges within and between the transport modes in India;
∗ To identify critical areas of research for realizing a comprehensive multimodal transport infrastructure and service network at a national level;
Introduction;
India’s transport sector is large and diverse and caters to the needs of 1.1 billion people. The sector forms major part of the economy occupying an estimated land area of approximately 3,287,240 km. Public transport is the primary transport mode and therefore most heavily utilized in the world.
Since the early 1990s, India's growing economy has witnessed a rise in demand for transport infrastructure and services by around 10 percent a year. Transport infrastructure development is growing, both in spread of network and in output of the system, at rapid pace but not uniformly over all transport modes viz. air, land and sea. In spite of this growth, the transport sector has not been able to keep pace with rising demand and is proving to be a drag on the economy.
Most of the Indian transport infrastructure is developed independently on a mode specific and regional policy premises. Although road transport is the most favored transport mode, road infrastructure capacity will not be able to keep pace with the demand for transport mainly due to barriers such as the lack of adequate public funds, land scarcity and environmental impact.
Challenges: The major challenges facing the Indian transport system are:
1. India’s roads are congested and of poor quality
Most national highways are two lanes or less with the creation of low lane capacity. Almost a quarter of all India's road highways have recurrent congestion, reducing truck and bus speeds to 30-40 km/h. Recurrent congestion on Indian roads contributes to high fuel consumption and huge pollution. Most roads are of poor quality and the maintenance of roads remains significantly under-funded with the result that only one-third of maintenance needs are met. This leads to the deterioration of roads and high transport costs for users. Taxes and bribes common
between state borders paid by truckers (est. to be $5 billion per annum) Road transport accounts for 8th highest road fatality rate.
2. Poor access to rural areas
Roads are claimed to be a catalyst for the economic development of rural areas. Almost 70 percent of India's populations reside in rural areas. Although the rural road network is extensive, some 40 percent of India’s villages are cut off during monsoon season due to the lack of good access of all-weather roads. This problem is more acute in certain parts of India especially in the northern and northeastern states which are poorly linked to the country’s major economic centers.
3. Railways are facing severe capacity constraints
In general, India’s high-density rail corridors face severe capacity constraints. Also, freight transportation costs by rail are much higher than in most countries as freight tariffs in India have been kept high to subsidize passenger traffic. Moreover, capacity expansion of rail infrastructure networks is more determined by political compulsions rather than commercial opportunities.
4. Urban centers are severely congested
In most Tier I and Tier II cities, roads are often severely congested during the rush hours. The dramatic growth in vehicle ownership – estimated to be at some 15 percent a year during the past decade – has reduced rush hour speeds to as low as 5-10 km an hour in the central areas of major cities. Also, the intensive construction work to add capacity (such as roads, bridges, metro development) in congested areas have become a further impediment to the flow of the dense traffic which has added to the congestion problems.
5. Ports are congested and inefficient
With liberalization of the Indian economy since the early 1990s, port traffic has more than doubled, touching 521 million tons in 2004-05. The port traffic volumes are expected to grow further to about 900 million tons by 2011-12. Therefore, India's ports need to significantly ramp up their capacity and productivity to meet this surging demand.
6. Airport infrastructure is strained
With the entry of low cost carriers in the Indian aviation markets, air passenger and goods traffic has been growing at over 15 percent a year leading to severe strain on infrastructure at major airports, especially in Delhi, Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai airports which account for more than 70 percent of nation’s air traffic.
Performance by Transport Mode;
Following is an overview of the scope, size and performance of India’s transport sector by transport mode.
1. Railways
Indian Railways (IR) is one of the world’s largest rail networks with 64,015 route kilometers of route lengths and the fourth most heavily used system in the world. Indian
Opinion
Transport Network for India
July 2012 27 livelihoods
Railways carried 19 million passengers and 2.29 million tonnes of freight each day during 2008-09. It is the world's largest commercial or utility employer, with more than 1.4 million employees. As to rolling stock, IR owns over 200,000 (freight) wagons, 50,000 coaches and 8,000 locomotives. It also owns locomotive and coach production facilities. It operates both long distance and suburban rail systems on a multi-gauge network of broad, meter and narrow gauges, and is in the process of converting the entire meter gauge (14,406 km (8,951 mi)) into broad gauge in a project called Project Unigauge.
Till recently, the railways played a leading role in carrying passengers and cargo across India’s vast territory. However, with tariff policies that overcharge freight to subsidize passenger travel, the movement of freight is increasingly shifting from railways to roads.
2. Roads
Roads are the dominant mode of transportation in India today. They carry almost 90 percent of the country’s passenger traffic and 65 percent of its freight. The density of India’s highway network – at 0.66 km of highway per square kilometer of land – is similar to that of the United States (0.65) and much greater than China's (0.16) or Brazil's (0.20). However, most highways in India are narrow and congested with poor surface quality, and 40 percent of India’s villages do not have access to all-weather roads.
3. Ports
India has 12 major and 185 minor and intermediate ports along its vast coastline. These ports serve the country’s growing foreign trade in petroleum products, iron ore, and coal, as well as the increasing movement of containers. Inland water transportation remains largely undeveloped despite India's 14,000 kilometers of navigable rivers and canals.
4. Aviation
India has 449 airfields out of which 85 are in the Commercial Air network .70% of the passenger traffic is between six metros even though air services are now operational at 85 airports. This has resulted in heavy traffic congestion, increase in emissions and safety concerns.
In addition to six metro airports, 35 other airports are also getting expanded and modernized. For economic growth, it is essential to provide air network to all Tier 1/ Tier 2 cities, industrial and Tourist/Pilgrim centers. Recent studies show that if all the existing airfields of 1 km length and above are operationalised, 2/3 rd of India’s population would be within 90 kms of an airfield. A systematic, integrated approach of networking airways with road and rail will provide the interior regions of the country fastest mode of transportation with the attendant benefits of economic development and quality of life. This would also help rapid intervention during natural calamities and other emergencies.
It must be noted that infrastructure is part of a multi modal system and the system approach should consider a vision where it plays the role of economic multiplier while being part of the overall transportation system.
Key Government Strategies:
According to India’s Tenth Five Year Plan, the Government
aims to modernize, expand, and integrate the country's transport services. It also seeks to mobilize resources for this purpose and to gradually shift the role of government from that of a producer to an enabler. In recent years, the Government has made substantial efforts to tackle the sector’s shortcomings and to reform its transport institutions.
These include:
1. Increasing public funding for transportation in its Five Year Plans.
2. Launching the ambitious National Highway Development Program with improved connectivity between Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, popularly called the Golden Quadrilateral, in the first phase, and now followed by a seven phase program ending in 2015.
3. Financing the development and maintenance of roads by creating a Central Road Fund (CRF) through an earmarked tax on diesel and petrol.
4. Operationalising the National Highway Authority to act as an infrastructure procurer and not just provider.
5. Amending the National Highway Act to expedite land acquisition, permit private financing and allow tolling.
6. Improving rural access by launching the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (Prime Minister’s Rural Roads Program).
7. Reducing the congestion on rail corridors along the highly trafficked Golden Quadrilateral and improving port connectivity by launching the National Rail Vikas Yojana (National Railway Development Program) and more recently the development of dedicated freight corridor.
8. Upgrading infrastructure and connectivity in the country's twelve major ports by initiating the National Maritime Development Program.
9. Privatization and expansion of the Mumbai and New Delhi Airports.
10. Enhancing sector capacity and improving efficiencies through clear policy directive for greater private sector participation. Large parts of the NHDP and NMDP are to be executed through public private partnerships (PPP).
An efficient nationwide Transport Infrastructure Network effectively linking various regions across the country is critical to allow goods and people to circulate smoothly and quickly between the different Indian regional and local markets. To optimize the available resources there is a need to establish a single multimodal transport network that integrates land, sea and air transport modes in India. Establishing such a network will not only improve the competitiveness of Indian products in the global, regional and local markets but also create employment in the Indian labor markets. Moreover, the advantages of the various transport modes could be exploited to create a nationwide efficient transport system.
Given the scale and size of developing such a comprehensive multimodal transport network will require huge investment. Therefore it is necessary to prioritize projects in collaboration with State Governments and other
stakeholders and ensure effective coordination. �
July 2012 28 livelihoods
Centre For Youth and Social Development Centre for Youth and Social Development (CYSD) is a non-profit organisation that was established in 1982. CYSD works for the de-velopment of deprived and marginalized people in remote areas of Odisha. CYSD emerged as response to the need for lend-ing a professional touch to development work in the state.
Mr. Jagadnanda Sahoo, its founder is a social activist and has been working for the development of tribal and rural poor in Orissa through people-centered initiatives. He has been leading CYSD for the last 27 years.
Over the years, CYSD has focused on three mutually rein-forcing and complementary thematic areas- Primary Educa-tion, Sustainable Livelihood and Participatory Governance.
Primary Education
CYSD strives to provide quality elementary education to children in difficult circumstances, migrant children (girl), dropouts, so-called untouchables and otherwise-able chil-dren.
CYSD promulgates an education that leads to the holistic development of children. This includes building leadership skills, peer motivation and mobilization. It creates a learning-friendly atmosphere enabling children to attend school regularly. CYSD also counsels the parents and sensitizes them regarding the importance of education.
∗The salient features of CYSD’s education system include-Emphasis on quality by designing quality indices and community monitoring groups, developing teaching and learning packages, adopting schools and bringing out text books in the tribal language.
∗Involving children and community by forming child peer groups, conducting education campaigns and providing special education for differently abled children.
∗Research and advocacy by forming committees like edu-cation watch, pressure groups and conducting reality checks by these groups improvement in education was brought about.
∗For ensuring development of children aged between 3 and 6, CYSD set up Sishu Bikash Kendras in villages where Anganwadis Centres are absent.
Sustainable Livelihoods
In the realm of livelihoods, CYSD supports the community with capacity building and encourages women SHG mem-bers to take up entrepreneurial activities.
It has setup Rural Livelihood Training Centre (RLTC) at four locations- Boipariguda block in Koraput district, Hemgiri block in Sundargarh district and Patana block of Keonjhar district and Tangi Choudwar in Cuttack district. These are strategically located to serve the four most backward zones of the state.
At the RLTCs, CYSD trains local youth to take up small entrepreneurial activities. It provides exposure on best
practices to the candidates, creates a resource base, and facilitates market linkages.
CYSD promotes women’s Self-help Groups at the village level and their federations at district levels. CYSD also fa-cilitates in the development of systematic business devel-opment plans for the SHGs to take up collective livelihoods initiatives.
Apart from women’s SHGs, CYSD has also supported farmers’ federations to enable farmers in the area to ac-cess resources like fertilizers, High Yielding Variety Seeds and saplings, technical support on land and water manage-ment, credit, Minimum Support Price for food grains, market facilities, crop insurance, and scientific agricultural exper-tise from resource agencies like Krushi Vijnan Kendras and Odisha University of Agriculture. Organic farming, horticul-ture, SRI cultivation is encouraged in the federation.
CYSD devised a Market Intelligence System (MIS) to in-form farmers on the selling price of different products at different markets and also the quality of products .This in-formation helps them to decide which market they would like to sell their products and also if any value addition would fetch them a better price.
Participatory Governance
CYSD has oriented the community towards analysis of local development issues and place their legitimate demands, bring about pro-poor initiatives and organise Gram San-gathans (Gram Sabha). Emphasis on micro planning is encouraged with bottom up planning. They facilitate the people to analyze the economic, cultural and environmental situations of their villages, identify village resources for their optimum utilization, prioritize problems and seek solutions. Women representatives are given training on leadership qualities. They are oriented towards their roles and respon-sibilities as a leader.
In addition to building the community’s capacity to enable them to take up effective governance, CYSD has also set up Panchayat Resource Centres (PRCs) in the villages. PRCs give information to locals regarding the village devel-opment programmes like education, sanitation, health, planning and implementation of various projects. The com-munity is free to seek any information from the PRCs and the Panchayat is obliged to reply to the questions.
CYSD also sensitizes the community regarding injustice and rights (to equality, information, etc.).
Besides its work in these three spheres, CYSD has also supported the community in establishing mechanisms for food security and ensuring equity in the community. It facilitated the establishment of community-managed grain banks. The community borrows grains from the grain bank at nominal interest rates at the time of food crisis.
CYSD also encourages group farming, (a.k.a community farming). The benefits of community farming is Marginal and landless farmers are encouraged to take up community farming by jointly cultivating large areas of land, including wasteland through shared resources, as seeds, tools, and
labor. �
Development in Action
July 2012 29 livelihoods
Q: Tell us about yourself.
A: I have been working as a Anganwadi Teacher for the
last 25 years. There are two Anganwandi centres in our
village and I work at the Anganwadi centre-1. I earn Rs.
4000/- a month.
I attended regular school till class 7. After that I was
married off and couldn’t continue with my education. Then,
in 1992, I sat for the class 10 exams in order to get a
promotion. Though I did not get promoted, I am proud that
I passed class 10.
Q: Tell us about your family.
A: We have four children- two sons and two daughters.
They are married. My husband is a retired postman. We
are living with our younger son, his family in Chatanpally.
He is a real estate agent in Shadnagar.
Q: What are responsibilities as the Anganwadi teacher?
A: Every day AWC opens 9:00A.M to 1:30 PM. 25 children
in the 3-5 years age group attend the Anganwadi daily. We
help the children to learn through engaging them in
creative activities such as drawing. As the Anganwadi
teacher, I observe the children for any discrepancies in
their capacity to learn.
We also provide the children with nutritious food. We give
eggs weekly once to children, pregnant women and
lactating women. Once in every 15 days, we survey the
number of births in the village and the incidence of child
mortality. We measure the weights of the children and
pregnant and women.
We categorise the children into different grades- normal
grade (healthy children), Grade-I, Grade-II, Grade-III and
Grade-IV (children who have nutritional imbalances). At
our centre, do not have any severly malnourished children
(Grade-II & IV). We have 60 normal-grade children, 40
Grade-I children and 35 Grade-II children registered at the
Anganwadi.
We observe breastfeeding week in the first week of August
every year to create awareness regarding the benefits of
breastfeeding and colostrums feeding.
We also maintain monthly reports on the nutrition levels of
the children. Apart from this,
we maintain records of the
nutrition supplies used.
Q: Do you participate in any
meetings?
A: Yes, I participate in mandal
level Anganwadi teachers
meetings which is held on
the 5th and 25th of every
month by Child Development
Programme Officer (CDPO) in
the ICDS (Integrated Child Development Scheme)
department. We are given inputs on child care and
maternal care at the first meeting. In the second meeting,
the monthly nutrition status and food stock reports are
reviewed.
We observe Nutrition Health Education Day (NHED) on the
first Wednesday of every month. We conduct a meeting
which is attended by school teachers, Auxiliary Nursing
Midwife (ANM), ASHA workers, and mothers. Sometimes
ICDS CDPOs, Supervisors, Health Supervisors also
participate in the meeting. We discuss issues related to
education, health, immunization, nutrition and sanitation
with the mothers.
Q: Do you face any problems in this job?
A: Sometimes, when children do not come to the
Anganwadi centre, I have to go to their homes and bring
them to the centre. This proves to be challenging as the
children tend to be stubborn and cry.
I notice that the parents don’t provide their children food at
home thinking that the Anganwadi will. True, the
Anganwadi does provide food, but it is only a nutrition
supplement and not a substitute for regular meals. Due to
this, many children are underweight.
Q: Do you want say anything to us?
A: I am proud and satisfied with my work. I improved my
education qualification, knowledge after marriage,
something unheard of. For this, I am grateful to my
husband who has supported me throughout. �
I Want To Help Vulnerable People….
Interview with Grassroots Activist
Gajjala Prameela is 45. She shares her experience of working as Anganwadi Teacher at
Chatanpally, with “Livelihoods”.
July 2012 30 livelihoods
Socio Economic and Caste Census-2011
Context
The Socio Economic and Caste Census-2011 (SECC-
2011), the joint exercise of the MoRD, Ministry of Housing
and Urban Poverty alleviation to determine the caste-wise
distribution of the population and the number of poor in the
country is underway. The last time a caste-based census
was conducted was by the British in
1931.
The other players in conducting this
massive exercise include the various
State Governments and Union
Territories, Planning Commission.
The Census is being conducted
simultaneously in rural and urban
areas by State Governments and
UTs with financial and technical
s u p po r t f r om t h e Cen t r a l
Government. SECC-2011 is being
conducted by more than 7,00,000 enumerators, data-entry
operators, supervisors, trainers and Government officials.
SECC-2011 is designed to overcome the shortcomings, of
the 2002 Survey for identifying BPL families. SECC-2011
was originally scheduled to be completed between June
and December 2011, close on the heels of the Census-
2011.
SECC-2011 objectives are-
1) Identifying the households based on their Socio-
Economic status.
2) Listing families living Below Poverty Line in rural and
urban areas,
3) To generate authentic information on the caste-wise
breakup of population in the country,
4) To provide socio economic profile of the various
castes.
SECC-2011 issued strict guidelines and fool proof methods
of verification of the data and transparent methodology of
verification of the genuineness of the data with public
participation.
SECC-2011 is expected to be basis for designing welfare
schemes and identifying their beneficiaries. The Census
automatically discounts households that are rich. SECC-
2011 determines “rich” on the basis of 17 indicators
including- owning a vehicle, pay taxes, own 2.5 acres or
more of arable land, government employees, etc. Further, it
automatically includes households without shelter,
destitute, Primitive Tribal Groups (PTGs), manual
scavengers, legally released bonded labouers in the BPL.
The remaining households will be ranked using 7
d ep r i v a t i o n i n d i c a t o r s an d
households with highest score of
deprivation will have the highest
priority for inclusion in the list of
households below poverty line. The
seven deprivation indicators include–
1) having a one room house
2) a house with kuccha roof,
kuccha walls,
3) no adult member between 16-59,
4) female headed household
without adult between 16-59,
5) households with disabled member but having no able
bodied adult member;
6) SC/ST households, households with no literate adult
above 25 years; and;
7) landless households deriving their major part of
income from manual casual labour.
The data is collected door to door Government appointed
personnel on Tablet PC (Computers) specially designed for
the purpose by Bharat Electronics Limited. The District
Collector identifies the supervisors to verify the data at local
level and upload it to the data bank. The information is
made public except sensitive details as caste, religion and
tribe.
This data is made available in Gram Panchayats, Mandal/
Block Development Offices, and District Collectors’ offices.
It will also be uploaded in the NIC/ State Govt. / MoRD/
MoHUPA websites. Within a week of publication the data, it
will be read out in specially convened Gram Sabhas, by all
names and answers of each household will be read out and
all claims and objections raised in these meetings will be
recorded and corrected if required.
Since the individual particulars taken under the decennial
Census, are kept confidential, the Socio Economic and
Caste Census-2011 is being conducted specially as it
requires putting all such data (except for caste related data)
in public domain. �
SECC-2011 is expected to be basis for
designing welfare schemes and identify-
ing their beneficiaries. The Census auto-
matically discounts households that are
rich. SECC-2011 determines “rich” on the
basis of 17 indicators including- owning a
vehicle, pay taxes, own 2.5 acres or more
of arable land, government employees,
etc.
July 2012 31 livelihoods
Books
Name of the Book: Creating Vibrant Public-Private– Panchayat Partnership (PPPP) for Inclusive Growth Through Inclusive Governance
Author: Harsh Singh
Publisher: Academic Foundation, 2011
In The Book ‘Creating Vibrant Public-Private-Panchayat Partnership (PPPP) for Inclusive Growth through Inclusive Governance’ Harsh Singh calls for the strengthening of community participation, with a focus on issues such as property rights for the poor, both for the assets held individually and by community. Without
clear property rights, neither local actors will be able to partner with the organised sector, nor can they muster resources such as credit to join new ventures, emphasizes the author.
Harsh Singh having cross-institutional rich experience, (served in the Indian Economic Service, in the Dept. of Economic Affairs, GOI, UNDP India from 1992-2009, and led Strategic Planning, Pro-poor Livelihoods and Private Sector Partnership and also served as advisor in the High Level Commission on Legal Empowerment of the Poor, and currently heads the Centre on Market Solutions to Poverty at the International Management Institute, New Delhi) has illustrated the essence of Public Private Panchayat Partnership in a vivid manner.
In a section on PPPP and the role of the business sector, the author observes that currently a lot of reliance is being placed on voluntary corporate social responsibility-type approach. “This needs to change to a more formal legal and institutional framework-based approach which carries both carrots and sticks” underlines the author. Another point highlighted in the book is that the transaction costs of PPP remain enormously high because of weak physical infrastructure and cumbersome efforts. “As a result, poorer areas and sections of the population continue to remain unnerved by wider economic forces
and institutions.”
Among the concluding insights in the book is the lament that the current developmental framework entails a monopoly by government agencies in the public development efforts and in the use of public resources and assets. This vertical framework has tended to exclude local leadership and initiatives as also the vast capacity that exists outside the governmental system, points out Singh
The issue of agricultural development influences the livelihoods of a vast majority of Indians, and this report explores the role that the business sector could play in rural transformation by bringing the concerns of the local governance agenda through the Panchayat Raj. Presenting several detailed case studies, this account seeks to show how partnership models could ensure reasonable income levels, even despite potentially hostile environments. Because India grapples with the paradox of endemic backwardness in more than 200 districts, the present case studies which show that partnership models which could ensure an income of Rs.25, 000 per annum on 0.5 hectare plots are feasible even in the context of a highly hostile eco-environment. In view of cross-cutting theme, this crisp-report is a worth read for policymakers and practitioners in the area of pro-poor growth, rural development, local
governance and public-private partnership. �
Book Summary
Disha: is a voluntary organization inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s ideology of serving the downtrodden, poorest of the
poor and marginalized sections of the urban and rural community by working on peace, justice, human rights, advocacy,
education, health, employment and women’s empowerment. These development programs are based on the felt needs
of people with an effort to mobilize participation for their individual and community development. . DISHA was founded in
1992 and since them DISHA's initiatives have helped people on the path of self-reliance, dignity, justice and empower-
ment. DISHA works in sixteen slum clusters of Delhi and 100 villages in Bihar and U.P. http://www.dishaindia.org/
Asha Deep Foundation: Asha Deep Foundation is a Non Profit Organization, carrying out development activities since
last 25 years in the slums of North East district of Delhi near Delhi-UP border and the five villages of Loni block of
Ghaziabad district. The nation’s wealth reserve has also grown to a moderate volume. But It’s benefits are only visible in
the living standard of upper and upper middle class society, unfortunately the lower section of society such as Dalits,
Schedule Caste, Schedule Tribes and Backward class remains in the same isolation as ever.
http://www.adf.org.in. �
Resources
New Books
Name of the Book:
Public/Private Partnership for Local Governance
Author: Oliver. W. Porer
July 2012 32 livelihoods
In India item wise expenditure of Rural and Urban households which are given according as per National Sample Survey
(NSS). From 1987-88 between 2009-10 rural households were expenditure on cereals (41.1 to 29.1), pulses and
products (6.3 to 6.9), Milk and products (13.4 to 16.0), Egg, fish and meat (5.2 to 6.5), Vegetables (8.1 to 11.6 ), Sugar
(4.5 to 4.5). From 1987-88 between 2009-10 urban households were expenditure on cereals (26.6 to 22.4), pulses and
products (6.0 to 6.6), Milk and products (16.8 to 19.2), Egg, fish and meat (6.4 to 6.6), Vegetables (9.4 to 10.6 ), Sugar
(4.3 to 3.7).
The food consumption expenditure in the country during the period 1987-88 to 2009-10 clearly reveals that there has
been a shift in expenditure towards milk and milk products, egg, fish, meat, and vegetables both in rural and urban areas,
whereas the share of consumption of cereals in the total food basket has gone down. �
Food Expenditure in Rural and Urban
Trends and Statistics
Food Expenditure in Rural and Urban (1987-88 to 2009-10)
Rural Urban
1987-1988 2009-2010 1987-1988 2009-2010
Cereals 41.1 29.1 26.6 22.4
Pulses and products 6.3 6.9 6 6.6
Milk and products 13.4 16 16.8 19.2
Egg, fish and meat 5.2 6.5 6.4 6.6
Vegetables 8.1 11.6 9.4 10.6
Sugar 4.5 4.5 4.3 3.7
Total Expenditure 100 100 100 100
Source; NSS 66th Round Survey
July 2012 33 livelihoods
Benefited By Escalation Of Land Rates...
Katikella Chinna Narayana, 50, belongs to Chatanpally
village. His wife is no more and he has 2 daughters and 2
sons. He used to own one
and half acres of arable
land in which he used to do
agriculture. But due the
infertility of land and lack of
irrigation, production dipped
and he passed through a
tough time. At that time his
family could not even afford
a single meal a day. His
family got help from Arunodaya Organisation (World
Vision). He was provided with 1 cow, 1 buffalo and a
tailoring machine.
After a few years, the National Highway 7 was built near the
village. This resulted in a real estate boom and mercurial
increase in land prices. Narayana sold off his land for a
hefty sum of 33 lakhs. His elder son, who has studied up to
7th standard, borrowed Rs. 3 lakhs from his father and
invested it for partnership in Honda Automobile Showroom
at Shadnagar. He earns Rs.10,000/- per month from it.
Narayana demolished his previous tiled house and
constructed a Pucca house. After some days with the
remaining money he bought 3 cows and expanded his dairy
business. He engaged his younger son to handle the
business. He sells 15 litres of milk per day at Rs.30/- per
litre. He is a white card and Aarogyashree card holder. He
and his mother even get a pension of Rs.200/- from the
Indian government. Now, he leads happy life along with
family. �
Case Studies
Out of Poverty
Laxmaiah is 47 years
old. He lives with his
wife and 3 daughters.
10 years ago,
Laxmaiah used to have
5 acres of land and he
had enough to take
care of the family.
However, his sister was
jealous that he was
leading a comfortable
life.
One day she sent some people to attack him and forced
him to sell the land for less cost. He sold the land for just
Rs. 1.66 lakhs. With whatever little money he had,
Laxmaiah built a house for the family.
He joined as a daily wage labourer in a nearby factory. His
working hours are from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. and earns Rs. 170/
- a day. His wife also goes for labour work in the village
only. She earns Rs. 70/- a day. They borrowed a loan to
marry their second daughter. However, the young girl’s
husband left her a few months into the marriage and he
retuned to live with her parents.
At present Laxmaiah has a debt of Rs. 1, 50,000/-. Till now
he repaid Rs. 3,00,000/- interest but the actual amount is
not yet cleared.
He is not sure about how they will sustain in the future. �
Life Crumbles With The Cheating... Broken Lives
Name: Laxmaiah
Occupation: Wage labor
Village: Chatanpally
Dist: Mahaboobnagar
Name: K. China Narayana
Occupation: Selling milk
Village: Chatanpally
District: Mahaboobnagar
1st Saturday of July
International
Day of Cooperatives
July 2012 34 livelihoods
Mutton Centre
I have a friend named Monty Roberts who owns a horse ranch in San Ysidro. He has let me use his house to put on fund-raising events to raise money for youth at risk programs.
The last time I was there he introduced me by saying, “I want to tell you why I let Jack use my horse. It all goes back to a story about a young man who was the son of an itinerant horse trainer who would go from stable to stable, race track to race track, farm to farm and ranch to ranch, training horses. As a result, the boy’s high school career was continually interrupted. When he was a senior, he was asked to write a paper about what he wanted to be and do when he grew up.
“That night he wrote a seven-page paper describing his goal of someday owning a horse ranch. He wrote about his dream in great detail and he even drew a diagram of a 200-acre ranch, showing the location of all the buildings, the stables and the track. Then he drew a detailed floor plan for a 4,000-square-foot house that would sit on a 200-acre dream ranch.
“He put a great deal of his heart into the project and the next day he handed it in to his teacher. Two days later he received his paper back. On the front page was a large red F with a note that read, `See me after class.’
“The boy with the dream went to see the teacher after class and asked, `Why did I receive an F?’
“The teacher said, `This is an unrealistic dream for a young boy like you. You have no money. You come from an itinerant family. You have no resources. Owning a horse ranch requires a lot of money. You have to buy the land. You have to pay for the original breeding stock and later you’ll have to pay large stud fees. There’s no way you could ever do it.’ Then the teacher added, `If you will rewrite this paper with a more realistic goal, I will reconsider your grade.’
“The boy went home and thought about it long and hard. He asked his father what he should do. His father said, `Look, son, you have to make up your own mind on this. However, I think it is a very important decision for you.’ “Finally, after sitting with it for a week, the boy turned in the same paper, making no changes at all.
He stated, “You can keep the F and I’ll keep my dream.”
Monty then turned to the assembled group and said, “I tell you this story because you are sitting in my 4,000-square-foot house in the middle of my 200-acre horse ranch. I still have that school paper framed over the fireplace.” He added, “The best part of the story is that two summers ago that same schoolteacher brought 30 kids to camp out on my ranch for a week.” When the teacher was leaving, he said, “Look, Monty, I can tell you this now. When I was your teacher, I was something of a dream stealer. During those years I stole a lot of kids’ dreams. Fortunately you had enough gumption not
to give up on yours.” “Don’t let anyone steal your dreams. Follow your heart, no matter what.” . �
Contrasts
KEEP YOUR DREAM
Shining Livelihoods
Door to Door Vegetable Vending
Declining Livelihoods
Story
July 2012 35 livelihoods
Monsoon is inching forward with reluctance! Floods in Assam, Drought in the country!!!
Hope all of us had the ‘grace’ of the Guru, Jagadguru! Happy Gurupurnima!
Let the tribe of writers (articulators) with authentic experiential and rational knowledge flourish!
Let us value friendships, friendships that lasted! Let us value life, the life ecosystem! Let us find ways to stabilize the life and population!
Let us pay back to the original inhabitants for letting us co-exist with them! Let the baton pass to the enlightened and empowered young generation!
Let us remember Mandela!
Rest in peace: Rustom-e-Hind, Super Hero Dara Singh; Super Star Rajesh Khanna, Writer of ‘7 Habits’, Stephen Covey. Let us not forget his seventh habit – ‘sharpen the axe’.
Pranab is almost there amidst mild controversies! Ansari is sure to be re-elected!
Our focus on 7i for 7L has taken us to appreciate the essence of Ls during the month, most of the time. However, attending half-day Life Enrichment Seminar – An Eye on ‘I’, led by Sri Ram has reinforced my transition and transformation thoughts. Visit www.yogapranam.com and attend the seminar.
During the month, I gather the key to going forward in the business of influence from Dr Cheema. These include: being up-to-date with eye on detail; exploring; get going despite failures and criticisms; extending oneself with supplementary and complementary resources and forces; and reaching out to more and more in multiple ways.
Jeff Haden stresses on beliefs that matter to influence and succeed -
‘I fill time’ - impose will on the time
‘I choose people to be with’ - attract people with the work
‘I contribute daily’ – past contribution is a past contribution
‘I add value’ – results, not experience; actions are louder than descriptive adjectives
‘Failure is mine’ – own failure and take responsibility
‘I volunteer’ – take opportunities to act
‘I do what is required’ – respond to the needs
‘I can be told what is to be done’ – clients have the rights
‘I walk the extra mile’ – even if it is lonely up there
Be early. Stay late. Make the extra phone call. Send the extra email. Do the extra research. Don't wait to be asked; offer.
People in the business of influence need charisma and Sivakumar shared the good news that charisma is learnable and cultivatable. John Antonakis, Marika Fenley, and Sue Liechti wrote in ‘Learning Charisma’ – Charismatic Leadership Tactics, CLTs need to be studied, religiously practiced and deployed with care. Charisma involves powerful and reasoned rhetoric, personal and moral credibility, and arousing emotions and passions. It helps to connect, compare and contrast; it engages the
group and distills the messages; it shows integrity, authority and passion; and it expresses with voice, face and body.
12 most universal, effective and important CLTs identified include 9 verbal and 3 nonverbal –
verbal: metaphors, similes, and analogies; stories and anecdotes; contrasts; rhetorical questions; three-part lists; expressions of moral conviction; reflections of the group’s sentiments; the setting of high goals; and conveying confidence that they can be achieved;
nonverbal: animated voice, facial expressions, and gestures.
The way forward is lots and lots of preparation, disciplined practice and working out appropriate combinations over a long period of time.
Olivia Fox Cabane discusses Charisma Myth and concludes - it is a learnable set of social skills; there is no one form of charisma. There are various styles of charisma (visionary, focus and warmth, intelligence, authority, kindness). It is not possible to fake charisma because it is not possible to fake charismatic body language and micro-facial expressions. With practice one can achieve one or more styles of charisma and lead.
As we live, lead and are led, let us appreciate – while we are important, we are a short-lived insignificant speck in
this universe; we are part of a symbiotic universe and our existence is a function of existence of and dependence on other animate/inanimate objects; there is
diversity and existential equity around us everywhere; our present/potential achievement is infinitesimally small vis-à-vis what we have been ‘graced’ with; what we have including knowledge is merely with us as its trustees for the time being to be shared with all; ‘I’ of life resists surrendering to the universe’s infinite intelligence and humility helps in flowing with it; and living with and loving all life and nature, apart from intense reflection, is a way to above appreciation.
And the appreciation has to go on. As we appreciate, we seek joy, expansion and spread of joy and
celebration of life and spread and expanded joy in life.
Seeking eternal celebration of life is the highest ‘end’ we have. Untiring reflecting on this appreciation is the means to this ‘end’. This needs to be practiced, with will, to take this cerebral consciousness through emotional consciousness to biological consciousness. Slowly we lose ourselves in blissful endless flowing celebration of life, the life of the universe.
This is aanandaviswaatmasaakshatkaarayogam.
Can we be there? Yes, if we pursue Atma Yoga. If we pursue relentless ‘reflection’ of life, all lives and universe, with concentration! Day-in and day-out! With appreciation! Improving appreciation and consciousness with more inner and outer exposure, exploration and living with all ‘life’ and nature with all love. Krshna confirms – universe takes the free soul to flow with it, without seeking.
Join us in the world of yoga – for celebrating life with love -
towards viswaanandayogasiddhi. You will not regret it. �
‘Yoga’kshemam
G Muralidhar
July 2012 36 livelihoods